Chapter 7

"Answers."

3/12/17 - 3/13/17

The moon glows like a pure white claw in the pitch black sky. Duskshade waits outside for Hailstone to be ready to leave. He notices Nightpaw stretching and entering the apprentices den.

"Snow of the rose and night of the falcon, spider woven in web of lies, a restless owl and a towering beech. All must go to the mountain and fight the ancient enemy of cats or risk the fall of the Clans forever."

Duskshade thought about the prophecy, and is convinced that Nightpaw is the cat Stealthfire spoke of. The daughter of Littlefalcon, "night of the falcon" and Rosefoot's daughter, Snowpaw, "snow of the rose".

Duskshade is even more anxious to share what he knows with Kestrelwing when he sees him.

"Duskshade, are you ready?"

The pale brown tabby nods to Hailstone. He follows his mentor out of the thorn barrier and gorge.

Sootdust pulls herself out of the stream and shakes the droplets from her fur. She pads through the Greenleaf Twolegplace and into ShadowClan territory and hears a voice when she was about to cross the Twoleg path.

"Hello, Sootdust." Kestrelwing approaches her and pads next to her.

"Kestrelwing." She whispers.

The RiverClan and ShadowClan medicine cats walk across to ThunderClan territory in comfortable silence.

Hazelheart and Softpaw pad past the old Twoleg nest and slide down the slope.

"Greetings, Hailstone." Hazelheart said to the speckled tom. "This is my apprentice, Softpaw."

Hailstone nods looking at the fluffy pale grey and white she cat. "I remember, from the Gathering. How is it being a medicine cat so far?"

"I've never had to remember so much stuff, I almost mixed up a few herbs."

Hailstone purrs and looks at Hazelheart. "That happened to me so many times, Cloudwind forbade me from touching his berry supplies for days and made me identify which berry wasn't deadly…"

Softpaw took her chance and pads to Hailstone's apprentice. "Hi, Duskshade."

The pale brown tabby looks at Softpaw and nods.

"I heard Snowpaw was hurt. Is she doing okay?"

"Just a scar, but she'll heal."

Softpaw bites her lip. "Has any of the apprentices lose sleep lately, or hear any voices?"

Duskshade's shoulders tense.

"Uh, why are you asking…?"

Softpaw decides to stop beating around the bush. "Is Nightpaw the one that gets lack of sleep? Because I have a strong suspicion that she is."

Duskshade looks at her.

"We're not warriors, you can tell me."

Duskshade looks over her head, seeing Kestrelwing and Sootdust slide down the slope. Duskshade looks back to Softpaw.

"Come with me. Kestrelwing!"

The ShadowClan medicine cat pads to Duskshade and Softpaw, dipping his head.

"You remember Softpaw, right?"

"Yes."

Duskshade gives Softpaw a reassuring nod. Softpaw says,

"I was hoping you two could tell me what you know about why StarClan is speaking to apprentices. I think my brother might be one of the cats being affected by it."

"What is your brother's name?"

"Spiderpaw. He's a black tom with green eyes."

Kestrelwing's eyes glimmer with understanding. "So he's the spider…"

"I promised him to find out why this is happening."

Duskshade relaxes himself. "What does the voice tell him?"

Softpaw recites the prophecy word by word for Duskshade and Kestrelwing. Duskshade feels a little better knowing that Softpaw can be trusted.

"So where do you stand in this?" She asks them.

"We know that three apprentices - four, counting your brother - are the cats we learned of in the prophecy. Owlpaw is from my Clan, and Nightpaw is in Duskshade's."

"And Snowpaw. I believe she's part of it, too." Duskshade put in.

"So all that leaves is "a towering beech", and the only Clan left out is RiverClan, and Sootdust hasn't mentioned anything about an apprentice with the same symptoms."

"Duskshade."

"Softpaw."

Softpaw looks over her shoulder and looks back at the two toms.

"The only way to find out is through StarClan."

Duskshade looks around StarClan's forest. He sees Softpaw and Kestrelwing, but he's shocked to see Hailstone, Sootdust and Hazelheart in the same terrain as them.

"What is going on?" Hazelheart asks, looking around. "Why are we sharing the same dream?"

Duskshade hears paw steps approaching. He looks at the ferns and sees Stealthfire padding out to meet the medicine cats.

"Good. Everyone is present, that makes things easier."

Hailstone analyzes her features, and narrows his green eyes on her.

"You're Stealthfire, aren't you?"

"I'm guessing Cloudwind told you about me." She said. "StarClan wants you all here to discuss the recent prophecy."

"Recent? I didn't get any signs." Hailstone looks at Duskshade accusingly.

"Don't be too hard on Duskshade. I told him not to say anything."

Sootdust blinks at the ThunderClan she cat. "What do you have to say?"

Stealthfire looks at each medicine cat.

"There is a group of cats, much like ours, but much older, that is being threatened by a pack. And if the pack succeeds in killing them off, they will move on to the lake."

Hazelheart said, "You keep saying pack. Like a pack of dogs?"

"Nope. Wolves. Bigger, stronger and more smarter than dogs."

Kestrelwing flattens his ears. "So StarClan is asking for one of our apprentices to go to the mountains and face these wolves? Are you sure you don't want to have warriors do the job?"

"We've all chosen apprentices we saw fit for the job. Me, Whitestar, Sandfoot and Ivystar."

Hailstone frowns. "Do you know which cats are chosen?"

Stealthfire nods. "I picked Snowpaw and Nightpaw. Whitestar chose a light brown tom."

"Owlpaw." Kestrelwing said.

"Sandfoot picked her brother." Stealthfire nods to Softpaw. "And Ivystar picked Beechpaw."

"Beechpaw, really?" Sootdust whispers.

"Well duh, a towering beech!"

"... When do they leave?" Hailstone asks.

"They don't have to leave at a specific time, but it has to be soon. The longer they procrastinate it might be too late."

"Should we tell our leaders?" Hazelheart asks Stealthfire.

"No. With everyone being tense, they might not listen to reason and doubt the apprentices ability and send in warriors for the job. It's best to wait until they leave so they can't stop them.

"I suggest you keep an eye on your respective apprentice, and make sure each of them develop a connection with each other like Nightpaw and Spiderpaw did. After that, leave the rest to us."